2016 James P. While Lecture on Legal Education: Legal Education Reconsidered

The title of my talk, “Legal Education Reconsidered,” is not meant to suggest that legal education needs to be reconsidered. On the contrary, I will explore why the many criticisms of legal education made over the past six years combined with a significant decline in the legal job market have led many people—including many college students and recent graduates—not only to reconsider legal education, but to draw the conclusion that it is no longer a worthwhile investment. Even worse, a growing number of faculty and deans have become disheartened about their chosen life’s work and as a consequence have lost sight of the value of an American legal education